"Blazing Fire Glue, Blazing Fire Glue... found it!"
Roars and shrill cries rang incessantly in Tang Qi's ears.
The trolls possessed immeasurable strength, but their enormous size also made their movements relatively slow.
Explosive Wolf's mercenary company were seasoned fighters too, apart from the mercenary who had dodged carelessly at the outset and been sent flying.
Working together, they formed ranks and split into three groups, holding off the goblin skirmishers while surrounding and killing one of the trolls first.
After casting [Great Step Sprint] and [Grease Spell], New Star followed up with thick, milky-white webs spread through the woodland to help the mercenaries surround the trolls. The webs hung from the treetops, blocking the trolls with their sticky strands.
When Explosive Wolf severed one troll's head, a mercenary seized the opportunity to throw Blazing Fire Glue onto the interwoven webbing and ignite it.
Flames climbed along the webs and reached the troll's neck, burning the writhing, fleshy growths in its wound to charcoal.
The dead troll had no head. They could not even hear its dying cries.
Once New Star no longer needed to maintain concentration on [Web Spell], he finished with a [Fog Spell], sending white mist sweeping through the woodland.
The goblins' vision was obscured, and their arrows no longer had clear targets.
This divided the mercenaries' encirclement into two separate battlefields, easing much of the pressure.
"Nice work, New Star!"
Explosive Wolf could not help praising him.
Getting this spellcaster to join them had been a stroke of luck on this commission.
There was a reason this young man had risen so quickly to become a "new star" among adventurers—
As a mercenary captain who had fought in the southern defensive campaign and faced beastfolk in actual combat, Explosive Wolf had worked with many spellcasters.
Unless they were high-level archmages with forbidden spells that could devastate the world at a whim and summon meteors from beyond the heavens onto the battlefield, things were different.
A battlefield mage's duty should be to provide the army with more advantages and opportunities.
But clearly, he could not demand even a basic understanding of the battle before them from spellcasters who mostly studied scholarly subjects and pored over ancient texts in their ivory towers.
The intelligence to analyze formulas and study spells was a talent.
The battlefield instinct to grasp the overall situation and adapt to the terrain was another kind of talent.
Adventurers and mercenaries, who often found themselves in danger, favored the latter.
"Enough chatter! Hurry up and finish off these stragglers!"
Praise could not replenish New Star's depleted mental energy, so it was meaningless.
He did not believe anyone had worked harder than him during this brief clash—
The goblins were not idiots. How could they let a mage manipulate the battlefield without putting any pressure on him?
Besides casting several spells to support the battle, he even had to dodge arrows aimed at him.
Although he evaded most of them, he still had to cast a [Shield Spell], giving himself a force shield to deflect the rest.
Four first-ring spell slots and one second-ring spell slot.
The successive expenditures were gradually leaving New Star struggling to keep up.
In his current state, he could only manage one more spell with his sole remaining second-ring spell slot.
For now, he could still endure the headache and sneak in a few cantrips while running around the battlefield.
But he really needed a proper rest—
"One dead, another on its last legs. The remaining goblins aren't worth worrying about either.
As for the last one..."
He glanced aside. He had actually noticed the duel at the side of the camp early on.
It had even reassured him somewhat.
As long as no troll charged out from the flank to interrupt his casting, this battle could be brought to a safe conclusion.
He had never doubted Black Snake's abilities—
Anyone who made it out of the Great Desert could hardly be incompetent.
Yet Black Snake was finding things increasingly difficult.
He had first dealt with several goblins firing arrows from hiding. Now, with his nimble footwork, he seemed to dart around the troll's feet and trade blows evenly with it...
But the iron chisel in his hand could do it no harm.
Even though he had already stabbed out four of the troll's eyes—
Those were practically the softest organs exposed on its body.
Yet its eye sockets, which had already sprouted eight pitch-black pupils, seemed to mock all his wasted effort.
Black Snake was no construct. He could not keep squandering his stamina here:
"Damn it, I sent them to fetch a blade. What's taking so long..."
He had tucked the chisel into his boot and now held a goblin's rusty short blade.
But the short weapon was only barely adequate for him.
If he had a suitable weapon in hand, he would never have ended up this exhausted.
"Here's the key!"
Tang Qi's shout finally lifted his spirits a little. He wrenched the short blade stiffly out of the troll's throat, then leaped up and caught the key thrown toward him.
By the time he landed, he had already tossed the shackles from his wrists onto the ground:
"Where's my saber?"
"In that mage's tent. I sent Kuru to look for it."
"Where is he!?"
"Kuru, Kuru—"
The calls carried into the distance, but the kobold still did not emerge from the mist.
Black Snake clenched his teeth, finally realizing what had happened:
"Damn it, did that kobold run off in the chaos!?"
Considering a kobold's nature, that would be perfectly normal.
Before his words had faded, a club swept toward him.
He bent backward, his waist supple as a snake. As the club passed over his navel, he planted both hands for leverage and kicked the chin of one of the troll's heads.
While airborne, he twisted at the waist and drove the short blade straight into the crown of its other head—
"Get clear!"
At Tang Qi's loud shout, Black Snake instinctively chose to trust him.
He planted his boots against the troll's chest and kicked hard. The roaring troll did not budge, but he propelled himself several body lengths away.
As he withdrew, a glass bottle filled with an amber, glue-like liquid came flying toward the crown of the troll's head.
"Roar!"
The two-headed troll instinctively swung its club and smashed the bottle, but the liquid inside burst into flame the instant it touched the air!
The liquid splashed across its forehead and arm, igniting with a whoosh and spreading over its entire arm.
"Hurts, hurts!!!"
Only then did the two heads lose their vicious expressions, their deep roars sounding more like sobs.
A savage gleam flashed in Black Snake's keen eyes as he hurled his short blade.
Silver flashed, tracing a snow-white arc beneath the dark night sky.
Trolls and goblins could both see in the dark.
But it was still beating at the flames on its body—
The short blade punched straight through one of its skulls!
"Poet, sing something!"
Black Snake remembered that Tang Qi was a bard.
Since the kobold had chosen to flee, he could no longer afford to worry about much else and instinctively gave the order.
Tang Qi froze, then realized that Black Snake seemed to be expecting him to cast a spell.
He swept his hand across the strings. After a crisp twang, Black Snake darted up to the troll like a phantom, and a rich bass voice immediately rang in his ears:
"I'll bury you upon a lofty hill.
Oh, my friend, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye—
When you wake from your dreams tomorrow morning, I'll adorn you with beautiful flowers!"
"What the fuck!?"
Black Snake's foot slipped, and he nearly spat up the plum wine in his stomach.
The expected enhancement did not come through the music. He had no choice but to pull out the short blade and roll out of the way of the troll's sweeping club.
Once he had put some distance between them, he finally could not hold back his curses:
"What the fuck are you singing? A dirge?
Have I pissed you off that many times? You want to send me to my grave that badly!?"
Tang Qi stopped playing and asked hesitantly:
"Didn't you feel a surge of inexhaustible strength just now?"
Tang Qi's earnest question actually made Black Snake doubt himself.
Thinking back to the instant he heard the song, he did seem to have felt a little excited... as though his blood were boiling?
But Tang Qi knew Black Snake need not doubt himself—
Although he was one of the few poets on this continent who could cast spells, that much was true.
Right now, however, he genuinely had no idea how to use the magic of music to inspire others and lift their spirits.
That left him with one crude method—
When a person felt pain or anger, their body secreted a hormone.
It made their heart beat faster and their blood flow more quickly, producing more energy.
On this continent, there might not yet be a suitable name for it.
But scientifically speaking, it was called [adrenaline].
Before you continue